Internet Attacked! (Did Anyone Notice?)

Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of “Safer Internet Day,” a 40-country effort to raise awareness about computer and Internet security. But the day probably didn’t feel too safe for the dozens of unheralded technologists responsible for defending the World Wide Web against one of the most concerted attacks against the Internet’s core since a similar assault in 2002.

The truth is that no one but the attackers knows the true reason. Paul Levins, vice president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) — the entity charged with, among other tasks, coordinating responses among root server providers in such attacks — said it would like be at least a week before the more meaningful facts come out.

“This is a fact based community, and we’re waiting for the facts to come in after the analysis before we can make committed statements about the origins were, and its intended targets,” Levins said.